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Supreme Court seeks status report in Haridwar hate speech case from state
Haridwar hate speech row is linked to the Dharam Sansad events i held in the state in December.
The Supreme Court has sought a status report from the Uttarakhand government in the Haridwar hate speech case. The hate speech row is linked to the Dharam Sansad events held in the state in December. The top court gave the state government time till next Friday to file its response to a petition against the event. After notice was issued on the petition - filed by journalist Qurban Ali and a senior advocate Anjana Prakash in January - the Uttarakhand government sought more time to file a response.
The state informed that out of four FIRs (first information reports) related to the event in three cases' chargesheets have been filed. The court has directed the state to file a status report by the next date.
The petitioners informed the court that the next event on Dharam Sansad is scheduled to be held in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. They filed an application to make Himachal Pradesh a party to the case.
The court has given the liberty to the petitioners to intimate the collector and superintendent of police of the area about the event.
The speeches made at the three-day Dharma Sansad - held between December 17 and 19 in Haridwar - had sparked huge outrage after several videos of leaders at the religious congregation emerged on social media.
The police had an FIR that named several Hindu leaders for allegedly making hate speeches.
Days after the event, five former chiefs of staff of the armed forces and more than 100 prominent citizens wrote a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice NV Ramana, criticising the comments.
One of the seers at the event could be allegedly seen passing objectionable statements against former PM Manmohan Singh. He cited a statement made by Singh in Parliament, which however, could not be heard in the video.
